Showcasing The Best of Birmingham

Neil Anderson

Neil heads up our public facing, audience development and engagement functions.
He has previously worked across the private, publicly-funded and not for profit sectors including roles at The Public, Cadbury World and Cadbury plc. As well as his role at Millennium Point, Neil is Chair of the SHOUT Festival, Chair of the Midland LGBT Employee Network and has held Trustee positions at Fircroft College and Full Potential Arts.
He has sat on Boards and Groups that promote the region’s cultural and tourism offer and is a Member of the Chartered Institute of PR, Chartered Institute of Marketing, Institute of Fundraising, Birmingham Business and Professional Services – Leaders, and the Birmingham Press Club.

Over the last two years Millennium Point has delivered on its commitment to be a relevant and accessible destination for the city of Birmingham – in fact, we have never been so busy!

Large scale, multi-purpose public destinations, welcoming over one million visitors each year for a variety of different needs, can be quite complex when it comes to ensuring that they remain relevant for all within spaces accessible to all.

The talents and passion of a dedicated and creative Programme and Events Team ensures that we continuously deliver on this commitment.

Increasingly seen as Birmingham’s Meeting Place, the team have brought in an eclectic mixture of activity ranging from straight-forward hires by companies wanting to reach the general public and burgeoning onsite audiences to arts and cultural initiatives and activities that further Millennium Point Trust’s charitable ambitions.

At our heart, we are a place where individuals can access concepts, ideas, exhibitions and content to expand their understanding of the world around them. We are a civic institution that is able to present the best of Birmingham to Birmingham, celebrate the diversity of its population and provide platforms for people to explore and discover.

The team have worked with some of the Midlands’ most interesting and exciting organisations over the last two years in order to animate our public spaces. This allows visitors to Millennium Point to experience a range of exciting and engaging activities. Last year alone, we had our busiest year ever for events - working with Capsule and Birmingham Museum’s Trust to provide visitors with the opportunity to get close to rarely-seen objects relating to early music technology from the city’s collection and modern work developed by contemporary artists and technologists in response to this. During the summer, we hosted Anne Frank + You to examine Anne’s life and modern examples of hatred and racism and; at the launch event, allowed people to hear the testimony of the region’s last holocaust survivor.

For the second year running, Birmingham’s Independent Food Festival returned – bigger and bolder – featuring more exhibitors, talks and live demonstrations from the city’s local independent culinary scene. Working alongside Birmingham City University, we also welcomed back Birmingham Made Me which featured seminars, presentations and exhibits from the region’s best manufacturers, designers and innovators.

‘Opportunities for all’ remains central to the team’s focus and priorities for developing activity. Millennium Point is the sought-after home to a range of apprenticeship shows and careers fairs allowing attendees to consider what options are available to them and often provides space for young people and students to develop skills and enhance their learning. For Christmas, exceptionally talented students from Birmingham Metropolitan Colleges’ Feedlab were commissioned to create idents and short animations for our large atrium screen. This work was presented alongside established animators and filmmakers from around the world through our regular Digital Frontiers programme. We also worked with some of the city’s best independent festivals including Flatpack and welcomed new audiences into the building through collaborations with Bass Festival and SHOUT Festival.

Millennium Point is now recognised as a hive of activity, frequently listed in regional what’s on guides and blogs as a place to find the unexpected. Already this year, we have had several photography exhibitions, hosted the first solo exhibition of Liskbot – one of the city’s most exciting street artists as well as a range of other events and activities.

We have much more planned too.

2014 was reported as our busiest year ever for events. It was beaten last year with even more events. 2016 is set to eclipse both of those. I’m immensely proud of the team here, our facilities and the fantastic work we have carried out. If you haven’t been to Millennium Point recently, or are looking for something interesting and different – be sure to check out the What’s On Section of our website.

Millennium Point Trust (Charity No. 1059451, Company No. 03227575, VAT Reg No. 687897832) is a company limited by guarantee and was incorporated in 1996. Millennium Point Property Limited (Company No. 03296443) was incorporated as a private limited company in 1996 and is wholly owned by Millennium Point Trust.